January 23, 2013

GRRRRRR!

A time bomb under any community is frightening. But under one as densely populated as Manhattan is ludicrous. A couple disturbing quotes from this Village Voice article:

"Pipelines like this have a disturbing tendency to explode."

"Running this pipeline under the city, the consultant told officials, would be like putting a small-grade neutron bomb beneath the streets."

"A few hundred feet south of where the pipeline makes landfall—I am not making this up—is the Pier 51 playground, frequented by the sometimes adorable and always flammable children of the neighborhood.

How is this possible? Aren't there any responsible adults in a position to rule out corporate projects whose risks have been compared to disaster-movie plot devices? The answer to that question, remarkably, is no."

"Mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn, whose City Council district includes the pipeline, has managed to dodge the issue entirely.

If politicians aren't prepared to make an issue out of the pipeline, it's likely because their constituents don't even know about it."

NOW YOU DO! You'd think that my fancy new neighbors, which include Sarah Jessica Parker and The Olsen twins, would have enough clout to protect their homes--but I reckon that even their wealth and celebrity is no match for a government run by oil. The fuel which even Texas oil man George W. Bush admitted that we're addicted to.